Mountains and Valleys

   Fear thou not for I am with thee: be not dismayed for I am thy God, I will strengthen thee, yea I will help thee, yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Isaiah 41:10
   When you are up on the mountain and you look out you can see the other mountains. You may think I'd really like to be on that mountain, the view must be awesome. So you pray God let me see the view from that mountain. Well as anyone knows if you are going to go up another mountain, you must come down off the one you are on. You must cross a valley to go between the two mountains. You can't skip from mountaintop to mountaintop. So down off the mountain you come. You start through the valley and for awhile you are doing ok. Then you start getting tired. You start wondering is there any end to this valley. Is this valley really so long? And so you trudge onward. After awhile you forget about the mountain you were on. You forget about the awesome view you were going to see from the neighboring mountain. All you can think about is how long and dark this valley is you're going through. After a while, you fail to notice the lilies that are growing by the way. You fail to notice the beauty in the valley because you are so caught up in getting out of the valley. You want to hurry and get back on the mountaintop where you feel invincible.
   So finally you reach the foot of the mountain and you look up to see the mountain towering over you. You being to think, it didn't look that big from over there. You think there is no way that I can get up this mountain. Many people never do get up that mountain they stay in the valley where the walk is easier. They don't want to put forth the extra effort to go the extra mile fort he greater rewards. They want to stay where it is safe. Just as you've beaten the discouragement and gotten to the end of the valley, more discouragement comes in the face of that towering mountain. So which do you do? Stay in the valley where its safe or press forward?
   If you decide to press forward there are more obstacles in your way. They may be jagged rocks or a crumbling path or not path just gut instinct to guide you to the top. You stop and set small goals for yourself. I will make it to the top of this cliff before night or to the shelter of those pines before the rain. Either way you have quit looking at the whole as being intimidating you are walking one step at a time. You know what the goal is (to get to the top) but you have broken it into goals you can achieve. You allow yourself to be encouraged by what you are accomplishing. So you make it to the top and the view is as spectacular as you thought. You rest and look around and enjoy the fruit of your labor, then before long you start looking and saying wonder how it would be from that mountain? You start thinking well I made it through the last valley and this one don't look like its so long, I think I'll just run over and check out the view from that mountain. And so the saga continues.
   Have you felt down in that valley for so long? Have you felt that the situation was hopeless? That you couldn't win for losing? I believe we all have. We have all reached a place of being so low that we felt unworthy and unable to do anything to help our self. We feel that no matter which way we turn we are lost and abandoned and unworthy of being loved even by God. We feel that the Lord doesn't hear our cries when we are down in this valley. We feel so alone. This is when Satan likes to work his hardest. If he can get our focus turned away from what God wants us to do (going toward the mountain to climb it) and focused on the mistakes we made (the valley we are in ), then he has gained an advantage. He has gained a foothold in keeping us from being an effective witness because we are so concerned with our own well being. He has gotten us into the old poor me routine.
   But God doesn't leave us, He is with us always. He is our ever present help in a time of need. In this scripture we find that he is with us. It is a promise. He promises us that he will strengthen us when we are weak. He promised us that he would never leave us or forsake us. He will bring us through the valleys. We must learn to be content whatever state we are in whether in the valley or on the mountain. There is much beauty in the valley, there are many things to learn while there, that will help us on our climb back up the mountains. When up on the mountaintop after awhile we forget the beauty. We start taking it for granted. So we set off in search of more beauty. You have to remember though if you become content to stay where it is safe, you will miss out on an awful lot of beauty.

Have a blessed day.